"There is a lot of misery in the world. There is also a lot of overcoming it." ~ Helen Keller
Four days ago I came to Paradise, California, a little hamlet in the Sierra-Nevada foothills. I was hired by the well-to-do parents of a … [Read more...] about The Tyranny of Hopelessness

An intervention is one of the most loving things a family can do, but it may require calculated deception in order to get the job done.
As an example, I need to get an addict to agree to go to treatment but telling him I am an interventionist up … [Read more...] about Deception

Many believe that if an addict does not admit to having a problem, he does not know he has a problem. We are taught to see this as a lack of self-awareness on the part of the addict. I can assure you, it is not. It’s simpler than that.
For example, … [Read more...] about The Truth About Denial

No matter what the drug–when I took it, bought it, prepared it or used it–I knew what I was doing was inherently wrong. But, that didn’t stop me. I preferred to believe it wasn’t as bad as my family made it out to be, or that I could control it and … [Read more...] about What if We Succeed?